Announcing The Alnoba Leadership Awards

We hold a bedrock belief that you can lead from anywhere and that strong leaders make stronger companies and communities. In these days of rapid change, partisan bickering, and great divides; it is more important than ever to honor and celebrate the leaders among us, those who exemplify moral courage and who bring out our best.

Building on this belief, we are pleased to announce the recipients of the annual Alnoba Leadership Awards, which The Lewis Family Foundation will present on Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at Alnoba in Kensington, New Hampshire.

These three awards: The Moral Courage and Leadership Award, The Emerging Leader Award and CEO Environmental Leadership Award honor the battle-tested visionary leaders who guide us; the emerging leaders who give us hope; and the business leaders who find more purpose in their work to help each of us be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Nominations for the 2018 awards were accepted on a rolling basis through August 15, 2018. Below are descriptions of each award and the 2018 recipients. We are honored that George Armstrong, Jessica Brown, Paul Rosenberg, Philip Conkling, David Conover,Cheryl Kiser and Susan McDonough serve on the Alnoba Leadership Award advisory committee.

We thank the Boston Business Journal, The Lewis Institute at Babson College, NH Businesses for Social Responsibility and UNH Sustainability Institute for partnering with us to present these inaugural awards.

Love and peace,

Alan and Harriet

Alnoba Moral Courage in Leadership Award

Presented to a visionary leader whose body of work, vision, passion and personal example have made a meaningful and measurable difference in New England. One who has shown moral courage and willingness to go the distance to help save the earth we share. The recipient is known as a strong mentor/coach and has left a lasting legacy by the cadre of bold next generation fighters and leaders they developed. This year’s recipient is:

Jane Difley
President/Forester, Society For the Protection of New Hampshire Forests

Recognizing that land protection is only as strong as our willingness to defend it, Jane Difley demonstrated exemplary moral courage and leadership in defending New Hampshire landscapes against the development of the Northern Pass transmission line. Eight years ago, when Northern Pass first revealed its plan to despoil a 192-mile corridor from the Canadian border to Deerﬁeld, New Hampshire, Jane declared that the Forest Society was “all in” and put the more than 100-year-old land conservation organization on the front lines.

Jane persisted in the face of monetary enticements and loss of support from certain facets of the business community. Her group was targeted with irate letters, phone calls and public declarations that the Forest Society should back down. Nonetheless, her team mobilized to enact strategies that included: conserving lands targeted by Northern Pass; mounting a legal challenge based on private property rights; spearheading the effort to pass state legislation preventing Northern Pass from gaining eminent domain access; educating every landowner in the 31-town corridor; placing staff at every state and federal public hearing; and mounting formal intervention at federal and state permitting processes.

One measure of a good leader is the caliber of their team. Not surprisingly, Jane gives credit to the guts, smarts and tenacity of her team at the Forest Society.

We will donate $25,000 in Jane’s name to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests for their ongoing fight to stop or bury Northern Pass.

Alnoba Emerging Leader Award

This award recognizes achievement and potential. It is presented to an extraordinary person under 40 in New England whose has shown leadership, integrity, results and grit. This year’s recipient is:

Alex started with a seemingly simple question – how can we reuse ‘waste’ materials from dorm rooms from one year to the next? His answer was to found ‘Trash 2 Treasure’ when he was an undergraduate philosophy major and activist at the University of New Hampshire. He gathered volunteers, gained administration permission, organized operations, and created a financially sustainable model to establish drop-off locations for discarded TVs, fridges, furniture etc. from students heading home for the summer, and then hold a giant yard sale during move-in weekend for the incoming class. It was the first student led self-sustaining program of its kind in the country, and has collected over 200 tons of usable items since it was founded 8 years ago.

From there he launched PLAN (Post-Landfill Action Network) to support student leaders, share best practices and guide other campuses to launch and sustain student-led, Zero Waste projects. Their mission statement reads in part, “PLAN empowers our generation to be changemakers”. Today, PLAN works with and advises students and staff at over 250 campuses across the U.S. and in 5 countries internationally.

For Alex and PLAN, this work goes beyond solving technical and logistical challenges to waste. They are focused on building a movement to challenge the linear consumption economy, address the most offending companies, and work in solidarity with environmental justice movement leaders. Through this work, PLAN has developed more than 100 international partners, including companies like Patagonia, Plastic Pollution Coalition, the PowerShift Network, and The Story of Stuff Project.

Considered a truly paradigm-shifting solution, PLAN is led by a passionate, resilient entrepreneur who has proven his ability to mobilize resources and inspire others.

We will donate $10,000 in Alex’s name to PLAN to continue their good work.

ALNOBA CEO ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

The CEO Environmental Leadership Award is established to support, inspire and recognize business leaders in New England who are helping to save the earth we share.

The vision is for the award to leverage increased awareness and action towards a more sustainable future through the recipient’s continued leadership within his or her business, industry and the community. This year’s Recipient are:

As a certified B Corp, ReVision stands out as the #1 renewable energy company in northern New England; for building an uncommonly cohesive workplace of employee owners; for their advocacy on climate policy and education; for their philanthropy and community-building efforts, and finally for developing innovative financial models to solarize nonprofits.

The company has grown to more than 260 employee-owners and today is ranked the #1 rooftop solar installer in New England and #5 in the nation by Solar Power Industry Magazine. Four of ReVision’s five offices (including warehouse operations) run almost entirely without fossil fuels.Their vehicle fleet consists of plug-in electric cars, hybrids and installation trucks that run on biodiesel, and they provide financial incentives for employees to reduce their own carbon footprints.

Last year ReVision spearheaded the “Power on Puerto Rico” initiative to design, build and ship off-grid emergency portable solar power units to remote communities in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. They also donate equipment and labor to help local nonprofits go solar, like the Crossroads House shelter in Portsmouth, Habitat for Humanity, and several public schools in Maine and New Hampshire.

Perhaps their most innovative program is their new investment fund called ReVision Solar Impact Partners, which aligns impact investors and tax equity financing with cash-strapped nonprofits, enabling the nonprofits to acquire cost-effective solar energy to increase their long-term economic and environmental sustainability.ReVision not only walks the talk themselves, they also help others walk the talk. Their boundless energy, technical competence and unwavering optimism charges all our batteries!

On behalf of the ReVision leadership team, we will donate $5,000 to the Conservation Law Foundation and $5,000 to Citizens Count.

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